• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.297-307
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• 2014

Cavern Thermal Energy Storage system stores thermal energy in caverns to recover industrial waste heat or avoid the sporadic characteristics of renewable-energy resources, and its advantages include high injection-and-extraction powers and the flexibility in selecting a storage medium. In the present study, the structural stability of rock mass pillar between these silo-type storage caverns was assessed using a coupled thermal-mechanical model in $FLAC^{3D}$. The results of numerical simulations showed that thermal stresses due to long-term storage depended on pillar width and had significant effect on the pillar stability. A sensitivity analysis of main factors indicated that the influence on the pillar stability increased in the order cavern depth < pillar width < in situ condition. It was suggested that two identical caverns should be separated by at least one diameter of the cavern and small-diameter shaft neighboring the cavern should be separated by more than half of the cavern diameter. Meanwhile, when the line of centers of two caverns was parallel to the direction of maximum horizontal principal stress, the shielding effect of the caverns could minimize an adverse effect caused by a large horizontal stress.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.308-318
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• 2013

Thermal stratification in heat stores is essential to improve the efficiency of energy storage systems and deliver more useful energy on demand. It is generally well known that the degree of thermal stratification in heat stores varies depending on the aspect ratio (the height-to-width ratio) and size of the stores. The present study aims to investigate the effect of the aspect ratio and storage volume of rock caverns for storing hot water on thermal stratification in the caverns and heat loss to the surroundings. Heat transfer simulations using a computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT were performed at different aspect ratios and storage volumes of rock caverns. The variation of thermal stratification with respect to time was examined using an index to quantify the degree of stratification, and the heat loss to the surroundings was evaluated. The results of the numerical simulations demonstrated that the thermal stratification in rock caverns was improved by increasing the aspect ratio, but this effect was not remarkable beyond an aspect ratio of 3-4. When the storage volume of rock caverns was large, a higher thermal stratification was maintained for a relatively longer time compared to caverns with a small storage volume, but the difference in thermal stratification between the two cases tended to decrease as the aspect ratio became larger. In addition, the numerical results showed that the heat loss to the surrounding rock tended to increase with an increase in aspect ratio because the surface area of rock caverns increased as the aspect ratio became larger. The total heat loss from multiple small caverns with a reduced storage volume per cavern was larger compared to a single cavern with the same total storage volume as that of the multiple caverns.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.150-159
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• 2013

It is generally well known that the stratification of thermal energy in heat stores can be improved by increasing the aspect ratio (the height-to-width ratio) of the stores. Accordingly, it will be desirable to apply a high aspect ratio so as to demonstrate the good thermal performance of heat stores. However, as the aspect ratio of a store increases, the height of the store become larger compared to its width, which may be unfavorable for the structural stability of the store. Therefore, to determine an optimum aspect ratio of heat stores, a quantitative mechanical stability assessment should be performed in addition to thermal performance evaluations. In the present study, we numerically investigated the mechanical stability of silo-shaped rock caverns for underground thermal energy storage at different aspect ratios. The applied aspect ratios ranged from 1 to 6 and the mechanical stability was examined based on factor of safety using a shear strength reduction method. The results from the present study showed that the factor of safety of rock caverns tended to decrease with the increase in aspect ratio and the stress ratio of the surrounding rock mass was influential to the stability of the caverns. In addition, the numerical results demonstrated that under the same conditions of rock mass properties and aspect ratio, mechanical stability could be improved by the reduction in cavern size (storage volume), which indicates that one can design high-aspect-ratio rock caverns by dividing a single large cavern into multiple small caverns.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.1
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• pp.66-74
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• 1991

The block theory with stereographic projection was applied and analyzed on the tunnel section of Samcheok Coal Mine. The results were as follows ; 1) Prevail orientations of discontinuity of sandstone around the main driftway of Samcheok Coal Mine were $(327^{\circ},\;44^{\circ}),\;(13^{\circ},\;24^{\circ}),\;(204^{\circ},\;65^{\circ})$ and $(225^{\circ},\;77^{\circ})$ in dip and dip direction, respectively. 2) Movable blocks of the site were 0110, 0111, 1110(roof), 0100, 0110, 1110(right wall) and 0001, 1001, 1011(left wall). Because of the direction of tunnel, blocks of the left wall was safe. thus key blocks were those of the roof and the right wall. Maximum height of key block was larger than the width of the tunnel but 2m of the yielded zone is expected in general for 5m width tunnel. 3) It is shown that block theory is applicable to large cavern in hard rock analysis.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2002

Since early in the 90's, the need for construction of underground rock structures such as long and large section traffic tunnel, energy storage cavern, industrial facility, etc. has been largely increased because the Korean territory is not wide and about 65 % of the land consists of mountainous region. The initial rock stress measurement has been widely conducted to provide the quantitative information on the stress state of engineering site at the design stage of underground rock structures. Among the diverse methods developed for measuring rock stress, hydraulic fracturing test is most popularly used because it is applicable at pre-construction stage and has no limit in testing depth. In this paper, the characteristics of initial rock stress state in mountainous region were studied on the basis of the in-situ hydraulic fracturing stress measurement results from the 60 test boreholes in various parts of Korea.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.595-609
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• 2017

Due to high in-situ stress and brittleness of rock mass, the surrounding rock masses of underground caverns are prone to appear splitting failure. In this paper, a kind of loading-unloading variable elastic modulus model has been initially proposed and developed based on energy dissipation principle, and the stress state of elements has been determined by a splitting failure criterion. Then the underground caverns of Dagangshan hydropower station is analyzed using the above model. For comparing with the monitoring results, the entire process of rock splitting failure has been achieved through monitoring the splitting failure on side walls of large-scale caverns in Dagangshan via borehole TV, micro-meter and deformation resistivity instrument. It shows that the maximum depth of splitting area in the downstream sidewall of the main power house is approximately 14 m, which is close to the numerical results, about 12.5 m based on the energy dissipation model. As monitoring result, the calculation indicates that the key point displacement of caverns decreases firstly with the distance from main powerhouse downstream side wall rising, and then increases, because this area gets close to the side wall of main transformer house and another smaller splitting zone formed here. Therefore it is concluded that the energy dissipation model can preferably present deformation and fracture zones in engineering, and be very useful for similar projects.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.173-194
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• 2017

Access shaft is of critical importance to the construction and operation of underground rock caverns. It usually has a relatively large cross-section and penetrates through fill materials, soil layers, and weathered rocks before reaching the caverns excavated in solid bedrock. In this paper, the design and construction of vertical shafts are reviewed in terms of diameter, depth, geological conditions, and support structure. Three shaft alternatives, namely alternative I: vertical shaft with spiral roads, alternative II: upper shaft with spiral roads & lower tunnels, alternative III: plain shaft, are proposed based on a simplified geological profile of the Jurong formation, Singapore. The advantages and limitations of the three types of shafts are discussed. The key issues relating to shaft design and construction, such as the shaft sinking, water control, support structure, are also discussed with a series of solutions provided, such as the sequential excavation, pre-grouting and diaphragm walls.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.622-640
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• 2009

원유 비축기지 저장공동과 같이 상하로 긴 형상의 대규모 공동에서 횡방향의 지압이 과도하게 작용하면 천정부의 응력집중과 측벽의 암반 변위가 과도하게 발생하여 저장공동의 불안정 요인이 된다. 특히 지압의 절대 크기가 암반 강도의 일정 비율 이상이 되면 응력 집중에 의한 암반의 취성 파괴를 유발하고, 이러한 현상은 터널 굴착 시 발생하는 파괴음(popping)과, 굴착면에 평행한 형태로 암편이 탈락하는 취성파괴(spalling) 현상을 동반한다. 이 글에서는 대규모 지하저장공동 굴착시 실제 발생한 과지압으로 인한 문제 사례에 대해 소개한다. 저장공동 굴착시 관찰된 암편 및 숏크리트 탈락과 균열 발생 현상을 관찰하고 암반 계측결과 분석을 통해 과지압의 현상을 진단하였다. 과지압 구간의 현재 상태 및 원안 설계안에 대해 연속체 및 불연속체 안정성 해석을 실시하여 문제의 심각성을 평가하였다. 이를 통해 굴착 형상 변경 및 특수 보강 방안을 제안하였으며 제안된 안의 보강효과에 대한 수치해석 평가 결과를 재검토 하였다. 이들 결과를 종합하여 과지압구간 보강안을 도출하였으며 상시 안정성 감시 대책으로 현장 암반의 미소파괴음 계측 방안을 제시하였다.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.17 no.1 s.50
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• pp.65-73
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• 2007

Recently, large-scale underground cavern such as underground hydraulic-power plant tend to be constructed very largely, so long-length rock bolt are generally used to support the huge plastic zone. However, problems fur bend-ing shape of the long-length steel bar and the bonding effects of anchoring systems are caused during the construction of the long-length rock bolt. In this study, field pull-out test for long-length rock bolt are carried out to estimate the most efficient anchoring system among the saw-toothed shape, grooved shape and smoothed shape with each 6 shells for 5.0m, 7.5m, 10.0m, 15.0m length. The axial load and axial displacement are measured with each load stage and than test results are analyzed to evaluate the behavior characteristics for each anchoring systems of long-length rock bolt. Also, the improvements of anchoring systems are proposed and discussed in this paper.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2014

Multiple thermal energy storage (TES) caverns can be used for storing thermal energy on a large scale and for a high-aspect-ratio heat storage design to provide good thermal performance. It may also be necessary to consider the use of multiple caverns with a reduced length when a single, long tunnel-shaped cavern is not suitable for connection to aboveground heat production and injection equipments. When using multiple TES caverns, the separation distance between the caverns is one of the significant factors that should be considered in the design of storage space, and the optimal separation distance should be determined based on a quantitative stability criterion. In this paper, we described a numerical approach for determining the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns for large-scale TES utilization. For reliable stability evaluation of multiple caverns, we employed a probabilistic method which can quantitatively take into account the uncertainty of input parameters by probability distributions, unlike conventional deterministic approaches. The present approach was applied to the design of a conceptual TES model to store hot water for district heating. The probabilistic stability results of this application demonstrated that the approach in our work can be effectively used as a decision-making tool to determine the optimal separation distance between multiple caverns. In addition, the probabilistic results were compared to those obtained through a deterministic analysis, and the comparison results suggested that care should taken in selecting the acceptable level of stability when using deterministic approaches.